About Change Up
Strong organizations make ambitious work possible.
The Change Up Group was founded on a simple belief: better organizations unlock possibilities for people. Based in Los Angeles and working with organizations nationally, we believe organizations pursuing meaningful goals deserve operational infrastructure as strong as the work they’re trying to accomplish.
Why Change Up exists
Important work shouldn’t be held back by preventable organizational problems.
Most organizations manage strategy, operations, revenue, technology, data, and finance as separate functions. It’s one reason the numbers never quite reconcile, a simple board question can take weeks to answer, and employees spend so much time working around the organization’s systems.
Change Up was built to work across those boundaries. We help organizations see how the pieces connect, understand where the friction begins, and build solutions that make the whole organization stronger.
Our philosophy
How we approach change.
Understand the work before redesigning it.
The people closest to the work often have the clearest view of where time, information, and capacity are being lost.
Solve the organizational problem, not only the departmental symptom.
A problem may appear in one team while originating somewhere else.
Build for adoption.
A technically correct solution isn’t successful if employees can’t use or sustain it.
Create visibility.
Leaders need reliable information to make responsible decisions.
Strengthen the organization.
Our goal is to leave the organization more capable than it was before.
Founder & CEO
Meet Kara Steffen.
Kara Steffen founded The Change Up Group on a simple belief: organizations exist to serve people by doing meaningful work, and their ability to fulfill that purpose depends on the strength of the organizations themselves. For nearly a decade, she has partnered with organizations across the nonprofit and private sectors, from emerging ventures to established enterprises managing nine-figure budgets, helping them build the clarity, capacity, and infrastructure to realize their ambitions and strengthen their impact.
Her experience spans organizational strategy, revenue, technology, data, finance, and implementation. This breadth allows her to connect big-picture vision with operational reality, translating leadership priorities into the systems, processes, and decisions that move organizations forward.
Working as an advisor, strategist, and implementation partner, Kara is particularly drawn to moments of organizational evolution, when what once worked is no longer enough, and new possibilities require new ways of thinking and operating. She believes that with the right alignment of people, purpose, and infrastructure, organizations can move beyond their immediate challenges and toward a more ambitious, sustainable future.
Kara also writes and speaks about the idea at the heart of this work at theoptimalhorizon.com.
The team
Specialized expertise assembled around the work.
Change Up brings together professionals in organizational strategy, revenue and fundraising, finance and accounting, technology implementation, data management, reporting, project management, training, and change management.
The team and level of support can scale around the engagement, giving clients access to the capabilities they need without forcing them into a fixed consulting model.
Rani DeMesme-AndersDirector of Revenue Strategy & Fractional Chief Revenue OfficerLinkedIn: Rani DeMesme-Anders 
Tilly HintonSenior Grants StrategistLinkedIn: Tilly Hinton 
Shannon HollowayFinancial Strategist & Fractional Chief Financial OfficerLinkedIn: Shannon Holloway 
Allen SpieglerDirector of Infrastructure Strategy & Fractional Chief Information OfficerLinkedIn: Allen Spiegler 
David HayesDirector of Technical ArchitectureLinkedIn: David Hayes 
Adrián Sanabria-DíazLead EngineerLinkedIn: Adrián Sanabria-Díaz
The Optimal Horizon
Keep moving toward the Optimal Horizon.
Organizational strength isn’t a fixed destination. It’s the ability to see clearly, respond intelligently, and keep building what the next stage requires. Each horizon reveals a clearer view of the organization and makes the next horizon possible. See the horizon. Reach the horizon. See farther.
Let’s build what comes next.
If your organization is ready for greater clarity, stronger alignment, and a more sustainable path toward its Optimal Horizon, we’d like to hear what you’re working toward.